Fishman007
Aquarium Advice Addict
My kids love to the khulis! My 10 year old son wants like 6 of them in his tank when we set it up at Christmas!
What size is it???
My kids love to the khulis! My 10 year old son wants like 6 of them in his tank when we set it up at Christmas!
Khuli's are great and the more you have the better their personalities show thru. Make sure you don't crowd the bottom of your tank tho, I would stick with either khuli or a cory species. You could add a bristlenose with them tho.
I am a big fan of a single schooling fish, so I would choose either the cardinal or the neon, but not both. You do have room for a smaller school of each if that's what you choose.
Hmm, I'm iffy about the angel. See an adult angel can get 12 in across if given the right room ect. Plus in the wild, neons are the angel natural prey. I would go with a smaller center piece like rams or a dwarf or peral groumai.
Wanted to update this thread with my stocking thus far. All fish have been slowly in small numbers (2-6) at a time. I currently have:
9 neon tetras
4 Serpae tetras
2 Bolivian Rams
4 Peppered corys
1 albino bristlenose pleco
2 African dwarf frogs
So far I've only lost 5 neon tetras. The first fish I added were 4 neons and 2 dwarf frogs (one was actually an African clawed frog). One of the neons started swimming erratically and died that night. The LFS replaced him with a guarantee after testing my water. A couple days later another neon came up missing but the body was never found. I later bought 5 more, bringing my total to 8. A week goes by and one again comes up missing but no body was found. I also noticed our African clawed frog looked rather plump. I hvad already learned that one of our frogs was a clawed frog and would need to be moved or he would start eating his tank mates but thought I had more time. I took him back and traded for another dwarf frog. Then I bought 4 more neons bringing my total to 11. These guys were very small, 1/2-3/4", and by morning two were stuck to the filter intake.
So basically I've lost one fish to natural causes, two to the clawed frog, and two to the filter intake tube. Everything else is doing well, but I think I will add a couple more serpaes. They're on sale at the LFS for $.99 and I read they like to be kept in 6+.
Also I'll add a picture of the tank. I do plan to add more plants and have a really cool piece of driftwood that's been soaking for a week or so but still floats.
The 2 neons stuck in the filter intake died of other causes just got sucked in, you should really get a test kit (API master kit is what i use) and see what it tests for for yourself. There is a reason you lost all those neons.
I have that same test kit on the way from amazon but haven't received yet. I've had two different LFS test the water and give me the go ahead. I'm not disagreeing with you but Im pretty sure two neons were picked off by the frog, leaving three unexplained dead neons out of 24 fish and 2 frogs. I should have my test kit soon though and will see what the water looks like for myself. Thanks.
Could also just be poor stock. Neons seem to be like that. I have had excellent luck (9 in my 20 gallon with no losses and 11 in my 55 gallon with only one loss) but I have heard of experienced aquarists losing all of their neons within days of getting them. The dead ones stuck on to the filter tube were already dead most likely.
Well maybe with the first 1-2 neons you could say poor stock but 4 there is a problem
I lost another one of my newest batch of neons and that one looked like it had ICH in his final hours. I got my test kit last night and will be posting the results today, although they may be skewed do to the recent deaths.
I don't know about the first three neons that died, but these three I would guess are a bad batch. Of the 4 half-inch long ones I bought for $.99/each, three have died within 3 days or so. Like I said, I will post the results today and hopefully you guys can help me sort it out. Thanks.
I did the test today. I need to redo with high range pH but from the test it looks like I'm at 7.6 or so. Ammonia looks to be between 0-.25 ppm, Nitrite is pretty close to 0ppm and Nitrate between 0-5 ppm.
Thoughts?
Theres your problem, have you cycled? Ammonia is very toxic and nitrite is too but not as much as ammonia, do a 50% and then 25% daily until it goes away.
I thought the tank was cycled but I was also trusting the fella at the LFS so maybe that's where I went wrong? What's ideal nitrate numbers? I know the ammonia and nitrite should be 0, but is it possible they are a little high because of the recent deaths? Also, what about the pH. Several of my fishes prefer a pH between 6.5-7. What's the best way to lower that or should I just leave it. I have a piece of driftwood in there and another waiting to go in, which I thought I read is a natural way to lower pH?
I'll get the 50% water change done here shortly.